Silverstone: David Pinkney event summary

MECHANICAL GREMLINS ROB PINKNEY AT SILVERSTONE
David Pinkney was left to reflect on what might have been during the
seventh round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season
after mechanical issues at Silverstone robbed the ...

MECHANICAL GREMLINS ROB PINKNEY AT SILVERSTONE

David Pinkney was left to reflect on what might have been during the
seventh round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season
after mechanical issues at Silverstone robbed the Harpenden-racer of the
chance to fight for points.

David qualified in 14th place for the third successive race meeting, but
changes made to the Pinkney Motorsport Vauxhall Vectra on Saturday left
the team confident of challenging for points on race day.

The opening race saw David make a solid start to move up one position on
the first lap before he battled ahead of both Tom Boardman and James Nash
on lap two to sit just outside the points in eleventh.

Keeping pace with the cars ahead, David was in the ideal position to move
further up the order when Matt Neal and Mat Jackson clashed on lap eight
but only seconds after taking ninth place, an issue with the electronic
throttle on the car sent the engine into safe mode and left him to return
slowly to the pits to retire.

From the back of the field in race two, David was looking to move
forwards up the order but a repeat of the same technical gremlin saw him
back in the pits at the end of the opening lap. While he was able to
return to the circuit, a series of slow laps were all that the Vectra was
able to manage as the throttle issue continued.

That left David at the rear of the field for the final race but he was
able to battle his way through to finish just outside the points in
eleventh place, although there was understandable disappointment at being
unable to make the most of the pace of the car earlier in the day.

"It's been such a frustrating day," David said.
"In the first race, the car felt mega and I honestly feel we could
have got up to at least seventh place and been on for our best weekend of
the season. Then, we had the problem with the car and that was that. We
came out of it with eleventh in race three, but it should have been
more."

Team manager Andrew Dean shared in David's disappointment that a
race day that had promised much ultimately failed to deliver.

"It's not been ideal, but we live to fight on another
day," he said. "It is extremely frustrating to have our
efforts thwarted by mechanical issues when the car was so great in race
one. It wasn't as good in race three as conditions had changed but
it was nice to come through to eleventh place from the back of the
field."